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Today is International Verify Your Backups Day

3634752869_a3c6de145d[1]I’m sure everyone regularly backs up their computer, online account, and mobile devices (or at least we should), but when was the last time you double checked that the backup was working properly?

Now’s your chance. Today, 13 Friday, is the International Verify Your Backups Day. We should all take some time today to make sure that the files we backup both locally and online are actually backed up, and can be accessed in an emergency.

Now’s the time to download copies of whatever you’re storing in Dropbox and open them to make sure that the files are valid. You might also dust off the hard disk or flash drive which you’re using for a local backup and run an integrity check, and also see if you can access the files.

When was the last time you backed up your iDevice? You might want to check to see if that backup is still valid.

One might also use the System Restore feature of Windows to revert to an backup of the OS, but I wouldn’t do that unless you have the time to deal with any issues should complications arise.

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This unofficial holiday was proposed by Adam Engst of TidBits earlier this year as a compliment to World Backup Day, which is coming up on 31 March. So far as I know there’s no official support for the idea from any quarter, but this is such a good idea that I’m pushing it anyway.

Creating regular backups of your data, profiles, and settings is just basic common sense security, but for all that we are constantly told to make backups, we are rarely  reminded to check back later and make sure the backups are actually usable.

And that’s what we should be doing today.

I am unfortunately away from my home so I can’t check my local backups, but I double checked the files on Google Docs, Dropbox, and that secret CIA server which no one know that I can access. My documents are all good.

What about yours?

images by jm3,karola riegler photography

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